It was probably inevitable.

The venerable Wimbledon tennis tournament, one of four “Grand Slams” in tennis, will be replacing line judges at next year’s championships. They will be replaced by line-calling powered by artificial intelligence, the All England Club confirmed last week.

The tournament — famous for clinging to tradition — has now bowed to technology. For the 147 years the championships have taken place, “out” calls have been made by human beings. The installation of automated electronic line-calling will be rolled out across all 18 courts next year.

While tradition-bound Wimbledon has kept some of its more archaic rules and requirements over the years (players must still wear white outfits), the tournament has slowly modernized over the years. For example, it used white tennis balls until 1986 (almost every other tournament and event had switched to the more visible yellow balls well over a decade prior). It only recently added a roof to Centre Court (allowing for matches to be played in all weather conditions). And in recent years, the All England Club allowed for the “Hawk-Eye Live system” to be used on court.

The Hawk-eye Live system is the artificial intelligence that has been in use at the U.S. Open since 2020, as well as other major tournament and Tour events. This has allowed for the elimination of (sometime fallible) human beings from making in or out calls on the court. While other tournaments dispensed with the linespersons entirely, Wimbledon had still retained them. What resulted was the ability for players to “challenge” calls on court, using the Hawk-eye technology to confirm (or overrule) calls made by linespersons.

That was similar to other sports, where plays can be challenged by using video replays, adding a certain amount of suspense while the rewiews are underway (they also have a tendency to slow games down and in some aspects, can be momentum-shifting). What the new AI system at Wimbledon will do is to make “out” calls automatically (using an AI-generated human voice), and players can no longer challenge human-made calls.

AI technology isn’t new (but it is increasingly being used in sports). In fact, MLB will be experimenting with using “Robot Umps”, and may possibly be using them for Spring Training games in 2025.

But the biggest loss for Wimbledon is not just the linespersons — one of Wimbledon’s more annoying endearing quirks had been to outfit the line judges in anachronistic semi-formal attire, although the linespersons attire had become slightly less formal of late.

“The decision to introduce Live Electronic Line Calling at The Championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation,” Sally Bolton, CEO of the All England Club, said. “Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at The Championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating. For the players, it will offer them the same conditions they have played under at a number of other events on tour.”

What are your thoughts? Should we be grateful that Wimbledon is finally joining the rest of the tennis world in adopting technology that will make for a (hopefully) perfectly called game? Or, do you view line judges a bit like umpires in baseball — fallible, but a part of the game? AI technology is here to stay. Should we be embracing it and using it to replace human made calls (in all sports), or are those all just “part of the game” — so long as video replay exists to confirm (or overrule) a human call, ensuring a “correct” outcome, should we keep those officials an umpires in their current capacities?

Discuss.